Pay no attention to the sadly low ratings given to this very fine romantic tale. Of course the plot demands full artistic license but that is the essence of a fairy story and the stretched imagination needed to accept the setting comes easily enough.
James Furlong is born into an Irish family with very strange powers. His grandfather became blind for 37 minutes each time he thought of sex whilst his father caused complete electrical failure all around him each time he became frightened. James simply caused everything to die around him whenever he was attacked or given a blow. Naturally this had unpleasant effects on those unfortunate enough to argue with him or even be near those fighting with him. Accordingly he runs into the forest and lives the life of a hermit. Until that is a beautiful young girl happens upon his forest shack and a love story begins.
The photography is nothing short of splendid and there are some fine performances from all the youngsters involved - in particular James Wilson who plays the younger James. I hope we see more of him. Perhaps my greatest criticism would be that Thomas Brodie-Sangster who is given significant billing in the production appears in very few scenes and has barely three minutes of screen time. His character, a young lad bent on revenge against the hero, was indeed interesting and could have been developed much more. What a pity the producers gave so much time to romantic love scenes and so little to the jealousy that love often brings about on those rejected.
